Coolio dead latest news – Fantastic Voyage rapper mourned on Twitter by grieving fans after sudden death at 59

Lifelong struggles

In late 1997, Coolio ran into the law when he and seven friends were arrested for allegedly shoplifting at a German clothing store.

The German government sentenced him to six months of probation and hit him with a $17,000 fine.

The following summer, Coolio was arrested again for driving on the wrong side of the road.

He also was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possessing a small amount of marijuana.

More recently in 2009, the rapper had another 18-month stint in rehab after pleading guilty to cocaine possession.

Gangsta’s Paradise

Just a year after gaining some notoriety with his freshman album, Coolio released his most successful song to date, Gangsta’s Paradise.

The rapper shocked fans with a haunting critique of gangster life that demanded a replay on radios across America.

The album Gangsta’s Paradise, released in 1995, went triple platinum, eventually earning a Grammy for Best Solo Rap Performance.

However, the success was short-lived as his 1997 third album barely scraped the Top 40 charts and Coolio once again fell into bad habits.

On the come up

A year after his release from rehab, Coolio returned to LA where he began to make some of his most notable work.

After making connections and being featured on albums with fellow rappers, Coolio debuted his first album It Takes a Thief in 1994.

The track Fantastic Voyage helped launched the album to a Top Ten spot and past the platinum sales mark.

Coolio was celebrated by critics and listeners for taking a more lighthearted approach to a genre that was dominated by a West Coast gangsta sound.

Coolio’s struggle with drugs

Coolio’s first taste of fame was short-lived after the rapper fell into a severe drug problem.

Coolio checked himself into rehab for crack cocaine addiction to straighten himself out and even started working as a firefighter in Northern California, a biography reads.

Humble beginnings

When Coolio moved from high school to a local community college, the Compton kid started to perform at rap contests where he gained some notoriety.

It was at these contests that someone called him Coolio Iglesias, and the name stuck.

He became a regular on a Los Angeles radio station and released his first single Watcha Gonna Do.

Coolio’s upbringing

Coolio, whose real name is Artis Leon Ivey Jr, was born on August 1, 1963, in Monessen, Pennsylvania, and later moved to Compton, California.

The future rapper started out as a highly intelligent bookish kid until he started searching for ways to better fit in at school.

After his parents divorced when he was 11, he got involved with the Baby Crips and developed menacing behavior to better assert himself, according to a biography by Steve Huey.

Coolio turned to violence, bringing weapons to school, and ruining his once-promising scholastic career.